As the Earth Moves
by Only-eyes-for-Riddick
Summary: Part 4 in the Elementals series. Lando has joined the gang at Hogwarts, Airiala and Snape are getting closer, and will the Ultimate Truth ever be found?
1. Chapter 1

**Part 4 of the Elemental series. Things are about the heat up so the rating has to go up. :)**

**Once again I do not own Harry Potter, only the Original characters and the original storyline.  
**

Airiala smiled at the other two elementals. Starting over was a very good idea for those two. Now they work in harmony rather than bickering all the time.

Unfortunately, they now focused all their efforts on Airiala instead of splitting between her and Snape.

Although, starting over had been good for her and Snape as well. They continued to work on a potion that would unlock the Ultimate Truth, but no such luck even after another month of trying. Despite all the frustration they felt at not being successful, they hadn't lashed out at each other in almost a month.

"Ah, February," Raina said with a sigh as she set another book down on Dumbledore's desk, "The month of love."

Airiala laughed. "More like the month of massacre." She smirked as Raina glared at her.

"Very funny," Raina said with a pout. "This is a great month for love and romance, but all you think about is the negative things."

Pyro pulled his way in between the two girls, wrapping an arm over each girl's shoulders.

"Ladies, ladies, you are both right. February is a great month for love, but massacre is part of it too. Maybe we should just focus on the love and let the past stay in the past."

The three began to laugh as the door to Dumbledore's office opened and the Potions Master entered looking rather tired.

"Hey there Snap," Raina said with a wide smile. He glared at her before placing some papers on the Headmaster's desk.

He turned to leave when he heard Airiala's voice.

"Have a good day Professor."

He looked over at her sitting on the stairs next to Dumbledore's desk, a large book in her lap. She was smiling at him, looking healthier than she had in a long time. Snape knew it was because of him making sure she ate and slept properly and letting the "Christmas Incident" go. He nodded in reply before leaving the office.

"You know," Raina said after Snape had left the office, "the two of you have been somewhat civil to each other this year, almost like you were becoming friends."

Airiala smiled. "We are. I think all this potions work we've been doing is great for building our friendship, as well as improve my potion-brewing skills. I think it is a good thing, even if we haven't found the Ultimate Truth yet."

"I'm just glad you guys aren't fighting," Pyro said as he sat another book down. "I mean, what would Lando have thought?"

"Speaking of Lando," Raina said drawing her eyes over to Pyro. "Where is he? I've been here since the fall, you since Christmas time, and Airiala has been here all year. We've all been working our butts off trying to find the Ultimate Truth and Lando seems to be slacking in his duties. What could be taking him so long?"

Pyro shrugged. "His mother probably wanted to borrow money again. Every time she needs money she goes to Lando, knowing how possessive he is and that he isn't going to give her the money. This leads to a long argument that can last months until Lando's mother just gives up. One time, it went on for a whole year before she finally gave up and asked one of Lando's aunts instead."

Both Airiala and Raina rolled their eyes. "That is so silly," Airiala said. "Wouldn't it just be easier to just give his mother the money. I mean, that is his mother who gave birth to him and brought him into the world and took care of him when he was a child. Why wouldn't he help her out in her time of need?"

"Because it's his money," Pyro said with a strong emphasis. "Lando, as you will see, is extremely possessive and does not like to share. He is one of the cheapest people I know and heaven forbid you ask to borrow a cup of sugar or milk from the man."

Raina sighed. "That's true. He still wears the same clothes he did when he was 15, and they need to be mended but he doesn't want to give them to anyone to mend them. He's crazy that way."

Airiala nodded. "I see. How strange."

The elementals continued to search through Dumbledore's books. They were on the very last bookshelf in the man's office and were about to have to start again the library before too long. Nothing was being helpful at all in the search.

Airiala finally looked up at the clock and gasped.

"Wow!" she said. "I have to go. I promised Snape that we would work on another potion tonight and see if this one is any better that the last dozen or so we've worked on."

Raina and Pyro waved good-bye to the air elemental before turning to each other with wide smiles on their faces.

Airiala wasn't in a hurry. Classes were about to be over for the day and several students were enjoying the afternoon. As she watched the young first years flit about, she couldn't help but think how adorable they were.

Moments later several students came rushing in from outside, most with eyes full of panic.

Fearing that Lucius or some other Deatheaters had come back again for her, Airiala turned to face the threat.

The front door leading out into the large lawn of the school was wide open as children rushed in and Airiala's eyes widened in shock as she saw a man lower a large boulder onto the ground with ease.

He was tall, almost as tall as Snape was, with really long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. He was wearing some of the rattiest clothes she had ever seen, and she had seen old pictures of Harry Potter when he was growing up.

The man jumped off the boulder and then dropped his hands. The boulder dropped to the ground as he started up the path to the school.

"Well," Airiala said to herself. "For some odd reason, I feel like Lando just arrived."


	2. Chapter 2

**Don't own Harry Potter. Meet Orlando, the Earth Elemental. :)**

Airiala watched as Lando walked up to the school and then he lifted his eyes and met hers.

He was handsome, with dark green eyes and high cheekbones with soft lips, but Airiala found that she couldn't feel any attraction to him at all.

Odd.

Lando stepped forward and took Airiala's hand into his own, making Airiala blink in surprise at his bold action.

"You must be the lovely Air Elemental," he said before kissing the back of her hand. "My name is Orlando, the Earth Elemental, and your one true love."

Airiala could feel the laughter bubbling up in her chest, but she wasn't about to embarrass the poor boy. With as much grace as she could muster, Airiala removed her hand from Lando's and smiled softly.

"Nice to me you Lando," she said with as much respect as she could. The boy had obviously been hit in the head recently or something. "You are late."

Lando smiled, making him look even handsomer, but still Airiala felt nothing. She felt that she should be a little concerned about that, but found that after all these months waiting for him that he should have gotten here a bit faster.

"I wanted to be here to meet you without the Fire and Water Elementals to bother us," the look in his eyes as he looked at her as he said that was a bit disturbing to her, "but I'm afraid that urgent matters kept me away from you."

"Lando! Your mom want to borrow money again?"

Airiala had never felt so happy to hear Pyro's voice in that moment. Lando was a nice guy, but he seemed to be a little out of it right now.

Lando stood and looked over at Pyro and Raina as they turned the corner.

Immediately Raina picked up on the "get me the hell out of here" vibes rolling off Airiala as she looked at them. Raina instantly walked forward and grabbed Airiala by the arm.

Lando growled slightly and Raina blinked and released Airiala's arm.

"Raina?"

Raina looked at Airiala with a small smile. "I was wondering if you would be able to help me with something in my room. I have a problem with the...bed...posts..."

Airiala raised an eyebrow at the very bad excuse, but nodded her head. "Of course Raina. I hope it's as easy to fix as the last time."

Airiala and Raina started down the hall and Raina risked looking back.

Lando was staring at them as they continued down the hall, more specifically at Airiala.

Raina sighed as they turned the corner to head down to Raina's bedroom.

Looked like Severus was going to have some competition.

Pyro watched Lando as the girls left. He wasn't stupid. He had know Lando for several years, even before he had met Raina, and he recognized that possessive look in Lando's eyes.

He followed Lando's gaze and almost groaned as he noticed that they were fixed solely on Airiala.

After the girls had rounded the corner, Lando looked back at Pyro with a smile. Pyro returned it with reservations.

This was not going to go well for Severus if Lando had laid claim to Airiala, it wasn't good for Airiala either.

In the last few months he had gotten to know Airiala and he knew that she was a free spirit and that she wasn't one to be controlled by someone.

Severus was the same in many ways and he wouldn't tie Airiala down (unless she wanted him to but that was something that he didn't want to get into right now) and he would let her be free. He would do what was best for Airiala.

Lando, although he meant well, was always going to do what was best for Lando.

Severus didn't want to admit that the scene that he had witnessed at the front of the school bothered him. Seeing the new arrival, who he was sure was the Earth elemental, kiss Airiala's hand had almost sent Severus into a blind rage.

She didn't belong to him, he knew that, but he couldn't stop the strong urge to rush over across the field and rip Airiala's hand out of the Earth Elemental's.

He turned from the scene and had gone back to torment the Seventh year Advanced Potions class he had waiting for him.

After making almost every single student in the class burst into tears, even some of the boys, Severus dismissed the class.

After the last student left the classroom Severus sat in silence and contemplated what he had seen.

Airiala was a sweet girl, a very pretty girl, and she had admitted her attraction to him once. At night Severus even found himself dreaming of her lips on his and would wake up to his hand touching himself.

It was out of control and now this possessiveness for her when she was being touched by another man, even if it was just on the hand.

She needed to find a man her own age. He was at least 15 years her senior, and that was on the low end. He could even be much more older than her.

He sighed and just let the worry leave him.

This was for the best. She didn't need him really. She needed to be with other Elementals.

There was knock on the door and then it opened. Severus looked up to see the very object of his thoughts entering the room.

She smiled at him and Severus found that although it was easy to say that he didn't want her, it was much more difficult to convince himself that it was true.


	3. Chapter 3

**Not the best chapter, but had slight writer's block. Promise though that things are going to keep moving along. **

Airiala wasn't quite sure what was going on. From the moment that Lando arrived she had felt like someone was constantly watching her.

And she had a feeling it was Lando.

The boy was nice and handsome, but Airiala felt nothing towards him, other than a little creeped out.

As time continued on she found herself spending more time down in the dungeons with Severus than in the library or Dumbledore's office. Anything to put distance between herself and Lando.

Lando didn't seem to get the hint.

Severus, to his credit, said nothing in regards to her spending more time with him in the classroom. She enjoyed watching him teach and terrorize the students. It was like some sort of sick pleasure that both she and Severus shared, watching students burst into tears.

Airiala knew why Severus did it. Potions, like most magic, was a serious business and could end in death if done incorrectly. Just the other day one of the students accidentally put in too much of an ingredient and turned a simple healing potion into a deadly poison. Luckily Severus had the antidote on hand and the student got off with extra homework instead of losing their life.

Severus continued to draw Airiala's attention, which to her was strange in itself. She was still very much attracted to him, but it was more than that now. Most of his mystery had been solved. During potion-brewing sessions the two of them would sit and talk and she had learned a lot about him.

He was an only child, he loved Lily Evans/Potter, he protected Harry because he loved Lily, he also hated Harry because of James (super complicated relationship), and he hated when he was a Deatheater and spy.

The Potion Master mystery that had drawn her to him in the first place was solved, but still she couldn't seem to get him out of her mind.

It was worse at night.

The dreams she had were...vivid to say the least and always left her waking up with a large dose of lust towards the man. Sometimes at night she couldn't resist the pull of the images the dreams invoked and she would end up touching her body, imagining Severus' hands doing what she was doing to herself.

Never had she felt such a rush of lust before. As the only Elemental that could sleep with someone and not develop an instant connection with them, Airiala had had a few lovers, but never had one of them invoked such desire in her before.

Severus was like a drug and one that she was already deeply addicted to.

It had been a month since Lando had arrived and once again Airiala found herself in the dungeons classroom, sitting in the back surrounded by Severus' books that he had loaned her in her search for the Ultimate Truth, listening as he was teaching his Advanced Potions class when the door swung open and a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her.

"Airiala!"

She almost groaned as she recognized the voice. Lando had found her.

She turned to him, glaring at him. Severus was glaring at them too, as the entire class turned to watch what was going on.

"Airiala, I was wondering if you would join me for lunch today? You don't eat in the Great Hall very often."

Airiala glanced at Severus. It was true that she didn't eat in the Great Hall, but that was because she spent most of her time working on potions with Severus and had meals with him in the classroom together.

It was one of her favorite parts of the day.

"No thank you Lando," she said firmly before turning back to the book in her hand.

Then she felt someone tug on her arm, pulling her out of the chair. She turned and glared at the Earth Elemental, wishing that she could use her powers against a fellow Elemental in anger.

"Come on!" Lando said in a strong voice. "I know that you'll have a good time with me."

She pulled her arm free and looked Lando in the eye. "No Lando, I am not hungry and I have work to do, as do you."

She turned to sit back down when Lando lifted her into his arms. She started to wiggle a bit in frustration, which only made Lando laugh.

"No need to act so modest my fair maiden, I shall carry you to get nourishment."

Lando turned around and found himself face to shoulder with one pissed off Potions Master.

"You are disrupting my class," Severus said firmly. "And the lady said no."

Lando blinked as if confused, then his face hardened and Airiala's eyes widened. This was not the nice Lando she knew. This Lando was a bit frightening and suddenly she made the connection.

Lando was possessive, and Lando saw her as his possession.

Everything he did was to get her to be with him. That was why he was so annoying to her, he was wanting to keep her near because ever since he arrived and met her he had treated her like she was something that belonged to him.

As she was making this connection she realized that Lando was speaking to Severus.

"I've heard about you Professor Snape," he said coldly. "You are a lonely old man that doesn't even know how to keep a woman in his life. You wouldn't know love even if hit you in the face. You know nothing about my relationship with Airiala and honestly have no right to..."

Airiala lifted her arm and slapped Lando. Lando dropped her and Airiala hit the ground.

He looked down at her in shock, as if he didn't understand what had just occurred. "Airiala?"

Airiala was glaring daggers at him now. She stood and looked at him. "Lando, I am only going to say this once and you better listen well." He nodded. "I am not your girl, I do not belong to you. I am a person, not a possession. And if you ever speak to someone I care about like that again, I will not hesitate to break every rule the original Elementals laid down for our protection and I will break you." She took a deep breath and let the anger roll away from her. As much as she was wanted to punch him for what he had said, she still had to work with him to find the Ultimate Truth.

"Now, let's start over as friends," she said as she held out her hand. "I'm Airiala, Air Elemental."

Lando blinked before he took her hand in his own and shook it. "Lando, Earth Elemental. Nice to meet you."

Airiala nodded and let him go. "Talk to you later at the meeting?" He nodded before he started towards the door. Airiala didn't watch him leave, but Severus did.

Lando got to the door and turned back to look at Airiala. The possessive look in his eyes didn't go away, but only seemed to get stronger.

Whatever Airiala had hoped to accomplish with that little display seemed to have backfired. The Earth Elemental was not going to back down in this. He wanted Airiala to be his, he wanted to possess her like one would a book or a house.

Severus knew then that this was far from over.

He dismissed the class, as that little display had made him no longer feel like tormenting the students today. He watched as they rushed out of the room leaving him and Airiala alone.

Airiala had yet to return to her seat, but stood with her back to him. For a few minutes nothing was said between the two of them.

"I'm sorry about disrupting your class," she said finally. "It seems like Lando's obsession with me is getting a bit out of hand."

Severus walked over to her. "Apology accepted, although I never felt that you were the one who owed me the apology. The Earth Elemental seems to think that you belong to him."

Airiala looked up at him and nodded. "I realized that too. Hopefully in time he will realized that I'm not one to possessed. I need to be free to do as I wish. Unlike water and fire that can both be controlled and yet can be subject to being out of control, land shifts slightly, but is not like the wind. The wind goes wherever it wishes, land cannot do that. Air has many speeds and is free to come and go as it pleases, land is just there and is secure. A relationship between one of Air and one of Land would never really work out."

"He seems to think it would. His attraction to you is quite obvious."

She smiled up at him, a hint of mischief in her eyes, a slight blush in her cheeks.

"Too bad for him that I'm attracted to you then isn't it?"


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own Harry Potter, just the original storyline of this fanfiction and the original characters. Sorry about the delay in updating. Got involved with some other reading and had to bring myself back. ENJOY! :)**

"Too bad for him that I'm attracted to you then, isn't it?"

Severus froze for a second at her words. It had been months since that Christmas Eve night when she had yelled out her attraction to him, months since they had discussed it, months since she had kissed him like she had.

At night he would find himself wondering what would have happened if he had moved faster and pulled her closer to him in that moment rather than freezing up and letting her walk away. The images that followed lead to some very intense dreams and sometimes even causing Severus to want to release some of the pressure himself. He was so tempted.

He smirked at her as he replied. "It is."

He turned and walked back to the front of the classroom, waving his wand at the discarded potion on his desk. He turned back to a semi-stunned Airiala. "Should we try another potion? As I let class out about 2 hours earlier than scheduled we have the time to try one more before my next class."

Airiala blinked before she smiled and nodded. She grabbed the book of potions that they had been working on and turned to where they left off.

"Alright, this one says to start with..."

* * *

Pyro and Raina were a little worried about Airiala. They knew that she was spending all her time in the dungeons with Snape, and frankly they were both thrilled about it, but Lando would not let up about Airiala.

"Airiala is so perfect."

"Her eyes are the most beautiful in the world."

"Her hair is so soft and silky, I want to run my fingers through it."

"What kind of ring would she like?"

Over and over again these questions would be asked and Raina and Pyro were getting sick of them. Lando and Airiala weren't even dating and it seemed like Lando already had their children's names picked out.

Raina was particularly worried today when Lando came in with a red cheek but was smiling. He had begged to be the one to go ask Airiala if she would join them for lunch today to discuss more about the Ultimate Truth, but instead of waiting until Severus' class was over, Lando had busted out of the room the moment Raina relented to let him him go.

It was either that or kill him and she couldn't do that.

She narrowed her eyes at him and he just smiled wider. "What happened?"

Lando laughed before picking up the nearest book and cradling it to his chest like a baby. "Our children will be fierce and fearless. They will be the most beautiful children in the whole world."

Raina could feel the creepiness factor rising with every word Lando said. She had known him since they were children and it seemed strange that all of a sudden he would attach himself to another person like this.

"Lando, what's with this sudden interest in Airiala? Last time we talked about marriage and love you were against it whole-heartedly."

Lando turned to Raina with a completely serious look on his face. "There are several reasons. The first being that my grandfather's will stated that I must be married to secure the funds he left for me. I thought that was a weird request as they are mine, but there it is. Also, when I saw her I just...I had to have her. Something about her pulled me in and made me want to keep her always."

Raina nodded. "You are aware that she has to decide to be with you or not, don't you?"

Lando laughed. "Don't be silly. Of course. I will just have to show her that I'm the best man out there to be with her and once I get her to say 'I do' then she will be mine forever."

Raina didn't doubt that. If Airiala did marry Lando then she would be stuck with him forever because he would really consider her his and would never grant a divorce. That is just the way Lando worked.

"Is she coming to lunch?"

At this Lando's eyes narrowed in anger and Raina almost wanted to call Pyro from the other aisle to come be her back up. When Lando was angry, he was scary.

"No, she will not be joining us. I was asking her to come with us when that...pompous arrogant potions master interrupted us and said that she would not be joining us today."

Raina was sure there was more to the story. Lando did tend to bend stories to only his point of view, and it was never 100% accurate.

Pyro took that moment to come around the corner. "Lando! Back so soon?"

"How do I get him to stay away from my lovely Airiala?"

Pyro narrowed his eyes in confusion before looking at Raina. 'Severus,' she mouthed and Pyro nodded.

"Well, man, you don't. It's her choice."

"But she's mine. She belongs with me, not him." Lando turned and looked at Raina and Pyro. "Just like the two of you belong together she and I belong together. Elementals should be with other Elementals..." Lando gasped before slapping his fist into his hand like a cartoon character that had just had inspiration.

"Lando?"

His smile was back, but there was something sinister behind it. Something was going to happen and it wasn't going to be good. He picked up the book he had dropped and opened it up.

"Come on guys," Lando said. "The Ultimate Truth isn't going to find itself."

Pyro and Raina looked at each other in worry before picking up new books and started reading again.

* * *

"Another failure," Airiala said as she looked down at the potion they had made.

"At least this one is not another recipe for beauty products, but a healing potion," Severus said as he bottled it up for Poppy. It cured scars which Airiala learned after she drank it and a small scar on her hand disappeared as if it had never existed.

Airiala stretched before looking up at the clock. "You last class is about to start and I need to get down to Dumbledore's office for the nightly meeting." She hopped off the stool. "Thank you for your help again today Severus," she said softly.

Severus nodded but did not reply, concentrating on bottling the potion in front of him. Airiala cleaned up her mess before walking back to Severus. "See ya tomorrow," she said with a smile before walking out of the classroom.

Severus continued to bottle the potion, but found that even with her leaving the room he could still feel her presence there. It was similar to how he had felt when he had first met Lily, but at the same time even more intense because she had admitted her attraction to him.

Honestly, Severus was confused as to why he hadn't done anything about it.

* * *

Airiala entered Dumbledore's office and sat in her usual place between Pyro and Raina. She learned after that first night with Lando that sitting next to him lead to him trying to hold her hand or touch her. She wasn't going to deal with that anymore and had taken to sitting between her friends who kept their hands to themselves.

"Any luck in the libaray?" she asked. Raina shook her head, but before she could speak Lando beat her to it.

"No, we are having no such luck and have only covered about half of the library already. Surprising since we've been working on it, at least you three have, for the better part of the year."

Pyro shook his head. "I doubt any Ravenclaw could read that entire library in their 7 years at Hogwarts. I'm surprised that we are already halfway through it with just us. I never thought that we would make it this far already."

"I can't believe that we haven't gained anymore ground on the Ultimate Truth thought," Raina interjected. "You would think we would find more about it by now than we have. It's like our former selves didn't want us to find it by reading, more like they wanted us to do something else."

A light clicked in Airiala's mind. "You're right," she said firmly before a smile widened on her face. "Raina, I think that you may be on to something. What if we can't find the Ultimate Truth by reading about it? What if it is something that just comes to us when we need it and that is why there is no literature on it?"

The room grew silent at Airiala's revelation. Was it possible that they had wasted all this time searching only for it to be something that comes to them later on?

"It's risky," Pyro said finally. "That's strange coming from me. Everyone knows I like risky things, but that's a big leap Airiala. What if you are wrong? We need the Ultimate Truth to help Dumbledore and all our friends defeat You-Know-Who."

"I know that it's insane, but think about it. Very little literature on it, no memory of it when it is passed on from Elemental to Elemental. You would think that one of the four of us would know what it is by now, but we don't. It has to be something other than in writing, otherwise one of our former lives would have written about it."

"I agree," Lando said firmly. "I think that we should stop looking for it and see if it comes to us. We should spend the time instead in training for the battle that could come any day now."

Pyro nodded in agreement as did Raina. Airiala smiled.

"Alright, let's make a training schedule."


	5. Chapter 5

**Another Chapter so quickly? I am just in the groove right now. Don't own Harry Potter, only original characters and plot line.**

The training schedule was brutal.

Why did she agree to a 6 day, almost non-stop schedule Airiala and Raina didn't know, but the boys seemed to be taking it all in stride.

Maybe it was naturally competitive nature between the two of them or something, but the boys never showed any sign of fatigue. They just kept going.

Airiala and Raina were sitting together after a week of this session, watching the two boys run the obstacle course they had set up. Not only did they have the standard obstacles (climbing rope ladders, tires, belly dragging under barbwire, and the like) but they had added a few mystical elements as well. There were disappearing rope rungs, occasionally the mud would try to grab them, there was even a special potion that Severus had made that would randomly select spells to hurl at combatants as they approached.

Airiala missed Severus. She missed spending time in the dungeons with him. Tomorrow was their day off for the week to rest the muscles and recoup. Perhaps she would spend that day with Severus in Hogsmeade, as he was chaperoning the students there tomorrow as well.

It would be nice to spend a day away from the castle that had been her home and self-exiled prison for the past 8 months. As much as she loved it here, she just had to get away, even if for a small while.

It was decided, she would be going to Hogsmeade.

* * *

"No," Severus said firmly as Airiala stood by his side as they started towards the front of the school grounds. "You cannot accompany me off school grounds. It is only here that you are safe."

Airiala rolled her eyes. "I'm wearing a cloak and a school uniform. I doubt anyone will recognize me."

Severus looked down at the girl. What she said was true. She was dressed in a Slytherin school uniform and was wearing a cloak with the hood up.

The only problem that Severus could see with it was everything,

Whomever had loaned her the clothes was shorter than Airiala was, so the skirt went slightly higher than mid-thigh. That same loaner was also smaller than Airiala in the bust area as well, as the shirt she was wearing seemed to be straining against her chest. It didn't help that she was wearing knee-high white socks and black shoes. All she needed was to remove the cloak and have her hair in pigtails and she would be the vision of a naughty schoolgirl out to seduce her professor.

Severus wondered for a moment if that was her intent.

Airiala tilted her head and gave Severus the saddest look she could muster up, which looked overly dramatic and fake but still drew attention to her plump lips and haunting gray eyes. "Please?"

Even the voice she was using reminded Severus of being 14 years old and watching the videos he had found stashed under his father's bed. Was she doing this on purpose or was she oblivious to the seductive nature of what she was doing?

Either was she was going to kill him if she said another word.

"Fine," Severus said, relenting. "But you must not wander to far from me. Deatheaters visit Hogsmeade too."

Airiala's eyes brightened and a wide smile graced her face. She nodded. "I will stick by your side the whole time," she said firmly before turning back to the path they were walking with a bounce in her step.

Severus wasn't sure if she had played him or not, but if he had to guess he would say that she had.

He watched as some of the male students turned and looked at Airiala, their adolescent eyes ranking over her form as she continued to walk next to him. He almost lifted an arm and wrapped it around Airiala as a sign of possession, but kept his hands firmly at his sides.

Instead he just glared at the students until they turned themselves back towards the front. It was going to be a long day.

Once they arrived in Hogsmeade, Airiala wanted to go to all the shops and stores. Severus indulged her this once. He understood what it was like to be trapped in one place for a long period of time and how when you finally are free that you want to explore. The girl had spent the better part of the year within Hogwarts grounds, so getting out like this was it's own sort of freedom.

She didn't buy anything, just went from shop to shop looking at all the interesting things there. It wasn't until they entered the small potions shop that her interest peaked.

She asked Severus all sorts of questions about different ingredients and cauldrons, even a couple of the potion books as well. Severus was glad that he had found someone who was interested in potions for what it was, even if she didn't know the difference between toad's eyes and worm wart.

Severus picked up some supplies that he had waiting for him in the small shop before they continued on, just walking through the small town.

"It's so nice here," she said with a smile. "I'm just glad that I'm not having to run, jump, or fly anymore."

"Fly?"

Airiala nodded. "Well, really hover, but it's similar to flying. Because I'm the Air Elemental I have the ability to make myself levitate for short periods of time. We are working to make it longer in case I have to take anyone away from the battle above the fire. So far I'm up to about 5 minutes before I start falling back down."

"If you can perfect it, that would be a useful advantage in the battle. You could lift up some people and then use them to attack from above.."

Airiala smiled up at Severus. "We hadn't thought about that, and it was so obvious too. Thank you Severus."

He nodded in reply as they continued to walk about the small village.

They talked a little, about nothing and everything, but Airiala couldn't help the exhilaration she felt in his presence. It was something she hadn't felt with any other person, any other individual. It was overpowering.

She didn't know what it was. Was this lust? Extreme attraction? Overpowering Desire? She didn't dare think the other option. I couldn't be that. It couldn't be...love.

The walk back to Hogwarts was the same as the walk to. She and Severus took up the rear of the students and Professor Sprout took up the lead. She acted like she didn't notice the male students looking at her, but she did. She didn't know why they were looking at her like that. She was properly dressed after all.

Once back on Hogwarts grounds, the students headed towards their dorms for the night, Sprout went her separate way as well, probably back to her own quarters. Severus, the gentleman, escorted Airiala to her own quarters.

"Thanks for the great day," she said as they walked. "I know that you didn't want me to leave the safety of school grounds, but I had to get out for a few hours and I figured that I would safer with you than anyone else."

Severus ignored the warm feeling in his chest at her words, her trust in him.

"It was nothing," he said softly. "Although, you may want to choose a different outfit to wear next time, or one that fits you a little better."

Airiala narrowed her eyes before looking down at her outfit. "What do you mean? Everything is covered."

Severus signed before looking away from her, almost like he was embarrassed. "Your skirt is rather short and your top is rather tight. You look like the stereotypical naughty schoolgirl that some of the older students attempt to dress up like around All Hallow's Eve."

Airiala looked down at herself before the words caught her. "Oh, so I'm a naughty schoolgirl huh?"

Severus said nothing as they continued down the hallway.

"What if I told you that my hair in up in pigtails and I have a lollypop in my pocket that I'm ready to start licking?"

Severus said nothing, but his stride did get a bit more ridged. Airiala smirked.

"So, _Professor_," he twitched, "just what would you do to punish me for my very...bad...behavior."

Her voice had taken on that tone again. That sensual seductive tone that she had used to get him to bend to her will that morning.

To his credit, Severus didn't cave this time, didn't rise to the bait she was dangling. When they reached her door she muttered her password and the door opened. She turned back to Severus.

"Sorry if I was making you uncomfortable," she said softly. "You just bring out the worst in me sometimes."

"Already forgiven," Severus said. He nodded good-night and turned to leave when he smirked to himself. "Oh, and Miss Airiala?"

"Yes?"

"Perhaps a long night of detention in my personal quarters would be your punishment for that, how did you say it? Very...bad... behavior."

He looked over his shoulder at her, with a smirk on his face, and almost laughed at the blush that was covering her cheeks. She smiled despite the blush.

"Good night Severus," she said with that smile.

"Good night Airiala."

Airiala shut the door and Severus turned and started back down to the dungeons.

From the shadows Lando exited from his hiding spot, a bouquet of wilted daisies in his hand. He had come to Airiala's quarters this morning attempting to get her alone so that he could show her how much of a better man he was than the Potions Master. He had waited there all day for her emerge, only to find out now that she had left before he had ever arrived to spend the day with man he is trying to defeat.

Lando crushed the flowers in his hand and glared in the direction that Severus had gone. The man had to learn that Elementals belong with other Elementals.

Airiala belonged to him.


End file.
